diff --git a/CURRENT.md b/CURRENT.md
index ec4c990..e74ecb7 100644
--- a/CURRENT.md
+++ b/CURRENT.md
@@ -40,6 +40,14 @@ mobile draft at 390px.
   - [x] C11 preview caching: Discord-hosted image/GIF previews (WebP 320px, hash-addressed, 5 MiB
     cap, one attempt) run after every walk in both modes. Live run `...-20260916090722`:
     `previewed: 2`; thumbs served over `/api/media/<scrape>/<item>/thumb` (200).
+  - [x] C61 Media browsing performance. The grid's merge step rescanned every scrape database per
+    request (about 300 ms for a page, 250 ms for stats, both refetched on every scroll append).
+    `MediaService` now keeps a candidate cache keyed by a scrape revision plus the normalized
+    filter shape (paging and empties dropped): one scan per filter set, then ~5 ms per page, and
+    stats share the scan. The client skips stats when the filters are unchanged (60 s TTL), updates
+    only the pager instead of rebuilding the toolbar on page loads, and renders tiles with
+    `content-visibility`/`decoding=async`/low fetch priority. Measured: 302 ms first page, 5 ms
+    later pages; smoke test streamed 2,480 tiles with no console errors.
   - [x] C60 Incremental re-scrapes and archive cleanup. A new scrape of a channel that already
     has a completed walk now starts after that walk's newest message (the best completed scrape by
     message count), so it only covers the newer gap instead of re-fetching history; the previous
diff --git a/docs/media-scraper.md b/docs/media-scraper.md
index 1c05a39..d272d8c 100644
--- a/docs/media-scraper.md
+++ b/docs/media-scraper.md
@@ -190,6 +190,17 @@ Previews run after every walk:
   of 25 with a 60 s cooldown between them, because bursts of thumbnail fetches trigger Discord and
   provider rate limits. A batch counts rows, not successes.
 
+## Browsing performance
+
+Every grid request used to rescan every scrape database to merge URLs. `MediaService` now keeps a
+short-lived candidate cache: the key is a revision of the scrape metadata (id, state, update time,
+preview count) plus the normalized filter shape — page limits, offsets, and empty values are
+dropped, so every page of one filter set shares a single scan and later pages return in
+milliseconds. The 15 s TTL and the revision key cover new pages, finished scrapes, and freshly
+cached previews. The client only refetches stats when the filters change (or after a minute), and
+grid cards use lazy async decoding with CSS `content-visibility` so a long stream does not pay
+layout and paint for off-screen tiles.
+
 ## Rate limits
 
 Discord and the provider APIs throttle bursts. The engine detects limiting and holds all media
diff --git a/poc/public/media.css b/poc/public/media.css
index f9b7ac5..b8c86f6 100644
--- a/poc/public/media.css
+++ b/poc/public/media.css
@@ -78,6 +78,12 @@
     text-decoration: none;
 }
 
+/* Skip layout and paint for cards far off screen: the DOM can grow to thousands. */
+.vk-media-figure {
+    content-visibility: auto;
+    contain-intrinsic-size: auto 170px;
+}
+
 .vk-media-figure {
     display: flex;
     flex-direction: column;
diff --git a/poc/public/media.js b/poc/public/media.js
index 1396030..92f49c4 100644
--- a/poc/public/media.js
+++ b/poc/public/media.js
@@ -359,14 +359,23 @@
         );
     }
 
-    async function loadStats() {
+    async function loadStats(force = false) {
+        const key = filterQuery();
+        const fresh = state.statsAt && Date.now() - state.statsAt < 60_000;
+        if (!force && fresh && state.stats && state.statsKey === key) {
+            renderStatus();
+            return;
+        }
+
         try {
-            state.stats = await window.VK.api.get(`/api/media/stats?${filterQuery()}`);
+            state.stats = await window.VK.api.get(`/api/media/stats?${key}`);
+            state.statsKey = key;
+            state.statsAt = Date.now();
         } catch {
             state.stats = null;
         }
         renderStatus();
-        if (state.pageMode === "page" && state.view === "media") renderToolbar();
+        updatePager();
     }
 
     /** Append only the cards that are new, so existing images never get rebuilt. */
@@ -444,13 +453,13 @@
         }
 
         layoutBuffer();
-        void loadStats();
+        void loadStats(reset);
         if (state.pageMode === "infinite") {
             void prefetchNext();
             void fillBuffer();
         } else {
             state.pageCooldownUntil = Date.now() + 2000;
-            renderToolbar();
+            updatePager();
             void prefetchNext();
         }
     }
@@ -1307,6 +1316,8 @@
         if (imageSource) {
             const img = document.createElement("img");
             img.loading = "lazy";
+            img.decoding = "async";
+            img.fetchPriority = "low";
             img.src = imageSource;
             img.alt = item.kind;
             img.addEventListener("error", () => placeholder(media, item), { once: true });
@@ -1389,9 +1400,17 @@
     }
 
     /** Dropdown with the metadata-field checkboxes. */
+    /** Re-render only the pager after a page load, not the whole toolbar. */
+    function updatePager() {
+        if (state.pageMode !== "page") return;
+        if (!state.pagerHost?.isConnected) return;
+        state.pagerHost.replaceWith(pageControls());
+    }
+
     /** Infinite/page flippy toggle plus the pager shown in page mode. */
     function pageControls() {
         const wrap = el("span", "vk-media-page-controls");
+        state.pagerHost = wrap;
 
         const toggle = el("span", "vk-media-toggle");
         for (const [mode, label] of [
@@ -1514,6 +1533,8 @@
     function applyDraft() {
         state.page = 1;
         state.pagePrefetch = null;
+        state.statsKey = null;
+        state.statsAt = 0;
         savePage();
         state.kind = state.draft.kind;
         state.filters = {
@@ -2035,6 +2056,8 @@
         state.page = 1;
         state.pageCooldownUntil = 0;
         state.pagePrefetch = null;
+        state.statsKey = null;
+        state.statsAt = 0;
         savePage();
         state.prefetched = null;
         state.items = [];
diff --git a/poc/src/media.ts b/poc/src/media.ts
index 1335b35..7716346 100644
--- a/poc/src/media.ts
+++ b/poc/src/media.ts
@@ -191,6 +191,13 @@ export class MediaService {
     /** The newest bot and scrape errors, capped. Surfaced in the Bot tab. */
     private readonly errors: MediaErrorEntry[] = [];
 
+    /**
+     * Merged-candidate cache. Every grid request otherwise rescans every scrape database; the
+     * key includes a revision of the scrape metadata and preview counters, so new pages, state
+     * changes, and fresh previews invalidate it. The TTL catches anything the revision misses.
+     */
+    private readonly candidateCache = new Map<string, { at: number; value: Array<{ meta: ScrapeMeta; row: MediaRow }> }>();
+
     /** One-shot maintenance: re-fetch previews for Discord rows closed out with HTTP errors. */
     private readonly recover = {
         state: "idle" as "idle" | "running" | "paused" | "done",
@@ -1168,6 +1175,14 @@ export class MediaService {
      * wins by default; an older row replaces it only when it is richer (downloaded, or with a
      * cached preview). Without this, a stopped or partial scrape hides usable previews.
      */
+    /** Cheap change signal for the candidate cache: ids, states, update times, preview counts. */
+    private catalogRevision(): string {
+        return this.engine
+            .list()
+            .map(meta => `${meta.id}:${meta.state}:${meta.updatedAt}:${meta.previewed ?? 0}`)
+            .join("|");
+    }
+
     private collectCandidates(options: {
         kind?: MediaKind;
         source?: string;
@@ -1195,6 +1210,54 @@ export class MediaService {
         after?: string;
         before?: string;
         sort?: MediaSort;
+    }): Array<{ meta: ScrapeMeta; row: MediaRow }> {
+        // Drop paging and empty values: every page of one filter set shares a single scan.
+        const shape: Record<string, unknown> = {};
+        for (const [name, value] of Object.entries(options)) {
+            if (name === "limit" || name === "offset") continue;
+            if (value === undefined || value === null || value === "") continue;
+            if (Array.isArray(value) && value.length === 0) continue;
+            shape[name] = value;
+        }
+
+        const key = `${this.catalogRevision()}\u0000${JSON.stringify(shape)}`;
+        const hit = this.candidateCache.get(key);
+        const now = Date.now();
+        if (hit && now - hit.at < 15_000) return hit.value;
+
+        const value = this.collectCandidatesUncached(options);
+        if (this.candidateCache.size > 60) this.candidateCache.clear();
+        this.candidateCache.set(key, { at: now, value });
+        return value;
+    }
+
+    private collectCandidatesUncached(options: {
+        kind?: MediaKind;
+        source?: string;
+        scrapeId?: string;
+        channelId?: string;
+        authorId?: string;
+        authorIds?: string[];
+        origin?: "dm" | "guild";
+        cachedOnly?: boolean;
+        exts?: string[];
+        excludeHosts?: string[];
+        excludeExts?: string[];
+        excludeProviders?: string[];
+        excludeSources?: string[];
+        includeProviders?: string[];
+        includeSources?: string[];
+        titleQuery?: string;
+        titleExact?: boolean;
+        sizeLessThan?: number;
+        sizeGreaterThan?: number;
+        lengthLessThan?: number;
+        lengthGreaterThan?: number;
+        aspect?: string;
+        resolution?: string;
+        after?: string;
+        before?: string;
+        sort?: MediaSort;
     }): Array<{ meta: ScrapeMeta; row: MediaRow }> {
         const candidates = new Map<string, { meta: ScrapeMeta; row: MediaRow }>();